A provocative and penetrating investigation into the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, whose infamous duel left the founding father dead and turned a sitting vice president into a fugitive. In the summer of 1804, two of America's most eminent statesmen squared off, pistols raised, on a bluff along the Hudson River. That two such men would risk not only their lives but the stability of the young country they helped forge is almost beyond comprehension. Yet we know that it happened.

4 out of 5 stars

Provocative

By
Jean
on
11-25-15

My Dear Hamilton

A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

By:
Stephanie Dray,
Laura Kamoie

Narrated by:
Cassandra Campbell

Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,129

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,064

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,056

From the New York Times best-selling authors of America's First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton - a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. In this haunting, moving, and beautifully written book, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza's story as it's never been told before - not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.

5 out of 5 stars

Eliza and Alexander Hamilton

By
Betty
on
04-15-18

Presidents of War

By:
Michael Beschloss

Narrated by:
Fred Sanders

Length: 26 hrs and 4 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
68

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
61

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
63

Ten years in the research and writing, Presidents of War is a fresh, magisterial, intimate look at a procession of American leaders as they took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. It brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any president, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths.

5 out of 5 stars

An Amazing Book about a very Important Subject!!

By
Purchaser
on
10-10-18

Friends Divided

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

By:
Gordon S. Wood

Narrated by:
James Lurie

Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
154

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
145

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
144

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy's champion, was an aristocratic Southern slave owner while Adams, the overachiever from New England's rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government.

5 out of 5 stars

A Great Read

By
Jean
on
12-22-17

Fallen Founder

The Life of Aaron Burr

By:
Nancy Isenberg

Narrated by:
Scott Brick

Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
181

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
130

Story

4 out of 5 stars
128

Generations have been told that Aaron Burr was a betrayer: of Alexander Hamilton, of his country, of those who had nobler ideas. But that version has been shaped by historians and writers from the 18th century on who were blinded by tabloid reports and propaganda created by Burr's political enemies during his lifetime. It is time to discover the real Aaron Burr.

3 out of 5 stars

Very Burr-Centric

By
Derek
on
11-11-07

Alexander Hamilton

By:
Ron Chernow

Narrated by:
Scott Brick

Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
14,012

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
12,145

Story

5 out of 5 stars
12,080

Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.

5 out of 5 stars

An Outstanding & Riveting Book!

By
Kevin
on
03-04-05

War of Two

Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Duel That Stunned the Nation

By:
John Sedgwick

Narrated by:
P. J. Ochlan

Length: 17 hrs and 15 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
103

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
92

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
90

A provocative and penetrating investigation into the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, whose infamous duel left the founding father dead and turned a sitting vice president into a fugitive. In the summer of 1804, two of America's most eminent statesmen squared off, pistols raised, on a bluff along the Hudson River. That two such men would risk not only their lives but the stability of the young country they helped forge is almost beyond comprehension. Yet we know that it happened.

4 out of 5 stars

Provocative

By
Jean
on
11-25-15

My Dear Hamilton

A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

By:
Stephanie Dray,
Laura Kamoie

Narrated by:
Cassandra Campbell

Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,129

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,064

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,056

From the New York Times best-selling authors of America's First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton - a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy. In this haunting, moving, and beautifully written book, Dray and Kamoie used thousands of letters and original sources to tell Eliza's story as it's never been told before - not just as the wronged wife at the center of a political sex scandal but also as a founding mother who shaped an American legacy in her own right.

5 out of 5 stars

Eliza and Alexander Hamilton

By
Betty
on
04-15-18

Presidents of War

By:
Michael Beschloss

Narrated by:
Fred Sanders

Length: 26 hrs and 4 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
68

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
61

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
63

Ten years in the research and writing, Presidents of War is a fresh, magisterial, intimate look at a procession of American leaders as they took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. It brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any president, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths.

5 out of 5 stars

An Amazing Book about a very Important Subject!!

By
Purchaser
on
10-10-18

Friends Divided

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

By:
Gordon S. Wood

Narrated by:
James Lurie

Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
154

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
145

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
144

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy's champion, was an aristocratic Southern slave owner while Adams, the overachiever from New England's rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government.

5 out of 5 stars

A Great Read

By
Jean
on
12-22-17

Fallen Founder

The Life of Aaron Burr

By:
Nancy Isenberg

Narrated by:
Scott Brick

Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
181

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
130

Story

4 out of 5 stars
128

Generations have been told that Aaron Burr was a betrayer: of Alexander Hamilton, of his country, of those who had nobler ideas. But that version has been shaped by historians and writers from the 18th century on who were blinded by tabloid reports and propaganda created by Burr's political enemies during his lifetime. It is time to discover the real Aaron Burr.

3 out of 5 stars

Very Burr-Centric

By
Derek
on
11-11-07

Alexander Hamilton

By:
Ron Chernow

Narrated by:
Scott Brick

Length: 35 hrs and 58 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
14,012

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
12,145

Story

5 out of 5 stars
12,080

Historians have long told the story of America’s birth as the triumph of Jefferson’s democratic ideals over the aristocratic intentions of Hamilton. Chernow presents an entirely different man, whose legendary ambitions were motivated not merely by self-interest but by passionate patriotism and a stubborn will to build the foundations of American prosperity and power.

5 out of 5 stars

An Outstanding & Riveting Book!

By
Kevin
on
03-04-05

American Emperor

Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America

By:
David O. Stewart

Narrated by:
Andrew Garman

Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
63

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
57

Story

4 out of 5 stars
58

A spellbinding storyteller, historian David O. Stewart traces the canny and charismatic Aaron Burr from the threshold of the presidency in 1800 to his duel with Alexander Hamilton. Stewart recounts Burr’s efforts to carve out an empire, taking listeners across the American West as the renegade vice president schemes with foreign ambassadors, the U.S. general-in-chief, and future presidents.

5 out of 5 stars

America's Apocalypse Now

By
Jeffrey L. Gingold
on
01-07-13

Frederick Douglass

Prophet of Freedom

By:
David W. Blight

Narrated by:
Prentice Onayemi

Length: 36 hrs and 57 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
16

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
16

Story

4 out of 5 stars
16

As a young man, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. He wrote three versions of his autobiography over the course of his lifetime and published his own newspaper. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence, he bore witness to the brutality of slavery.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Biography

By
Adam Shields
on
10-22-18

The Hamilton Affair

By:
Elizabeth Cobbs

Narrated by:
Coleen Marlo

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
315

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
287

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
286

Hamilton was a bastard son, raised on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. He went to America to pursue his education. Along the way he became one of the American Revolution's most dashing - and unlikely - heroes. Adored by Washington, hated by Jefferson, Hamilton was a lightning rod: the most controversial leader of the American Revolution.

5 out of 5 stars

A terrific historical fiction novel

By
Domenic A Ciraulo MD
on
12-22-16

The Forgotten Seamstress

By:
Liz Trenow

Narrated by:
Anne Flosnik

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
221

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
199

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
194

A shy girl with no family, Maria knows she's lucky to have landed in the sewing room of the royal household. Before World War I casts its shadow, she catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, a glamorous and intense gentleman. But her life takes a far darker turn, and soon all she has left is a fantastical story about her time at Buckingham Palace. Decades later, Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother's attic.

5 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed listening to this book

By
SusanKC
on
03-26-15

Stone: The Complete Series 1-4

By:
Danny Brocklehurst,
various

Narrated by:
Craig Cheetham,
Deborah McAndrew,
full cast,
and others

Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
30

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
30

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
28

Seventeen stories from the gritty crime series created by Danny Brocklehurst, starring Hugo Speer as Manchester detective John Stone. This collection brings together Series 1 to 4 of this intelligent detective drama, tackling morally ambiguous, complex and challenging subjects. DCI Stone and his team investigate a series of brutal murders and missing person cases, among other grisly crimes. Starring Hugo Speer as DCI John Stone, Craig Cheetham as DI Mike Tanner and Deborah McAndrew as DS Sue Kelly.

5 out of 5 stars

Gritty and hard-hitting

By
Sabeer
on
04-14-18

In the Hurricane's Eye

The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown

By:
Nathaniel Philbrick

Narrated by:
Scott Brick

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
81

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
78

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
78

In a narrative that moves from Washington's headquarters on the Hudson River, to the wooded hillside in North Carolina where Nathanael Greene fought Lord Cornwallis to a vicious draw, to Lafayette's brilliant series of maneuvers across Tidewater Virginia, author Nathaniel Philbrick details the epic and suspenseful year through to its triumphant conclusion. A riveting and wide-ranging story, full of dramatic, unexpected turns, In the Hurricane's Eye reveals that the fate of the American Revolution depended, in the end, on Washington and the sea.

5 out of 5 stars

Even-handed, yet dramatic!

By
Greeny
on
10-24-18

The Duel

The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

By:
Judith St. George

Narrated by:
John H. Mayer

Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
33

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
29

Story

4 out of 5 stars
29

In curiously parallel lives, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were both orphaned at an early age. Both were brilliant students who attended college - one at Princeton, the other at Columbia - and studied law. Both were young staff officers under General George Washington, and both became war heroes. Politics beckoned them, and each served in the newly formed government of the fledgling nation. Why, then, did these two face each other at dawn in a duel that ended with death for one and opprobrium for the other?

4 out of 5 stars

Hamilton

By
Becky Hofer
on
04-02-17

American Revolutions

A Continental History, 1750-1804

By:
Alan Taylor

Narrated by:
Mark Bramhall

Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
197

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
179

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
178

The American Revolution is often portrayed as a high-minded, orderly event whose capstone, the Constitution, provided the ideal framework for a democratic, prosperous nation. Alan Taylor, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, gives us a different creation story in this magisterial history of the nation's founding. Rising out of the continental rivalries of European empires and their native allies, Taylor's Revolution builds like a ground fire overspreading Britain's mainland colonies, fueled by local conditions, destructive, hard to quell.

5 out of 5 stars

Best book on the American Revolution that I have read

By
Peter Stephens
on
11-16-16

American Brutus

John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies

By:
Michael Kauffman

Narrated by:
Nelson Runger

Length: 22 hrs and 2 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
44

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
38

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
41

In American Brutus, popular historian Michael W. Kauffman delivers a history that reads more like a best-selling novel. This definitive masterwork dispels commonly held myths and reveals the truth about John Wilkes Booth. Luring Southern sympathizers into a “noble” presidential kidnapping, Booth stunned his puzzled pawns by murdering Lincoln. From Booth’s early life and acting career to his escape and death, this meticulously researched book re-examines it all using a wealth of primary sources.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

By
Scott
on
06-30-18

Dead Run

The Murder of a Lawman and the Greatest Manhunt of the Modern American West

By:
Dan Schultz

Narrated by:
Arthur Morey

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
1,636

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,492

Story

4 out of 5 stars
1,486

On a sunny May morning in 1998 in Cortez, Colorado, three desperados in a stolen truck opened fire on the town cop, shooting him 20 times; then they blasted their way past dozens of police cars and disappeared into 10,000 square miles of the harshest wilderness terrain on the North American continent. Self-trained survivalists, the outlaws eluded the most sophisticated law enforcement technology on the planet and a pursuit force that represented more than 75 local, state, and federal police agencies with dozens of SWAT teams, U.S. Army Special Forces....

4 out of 5 stars

Sounds like fiction...but it's not! Great Listen!

By
Karen
on
04-04-13

Lincoln's Last Trial

The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency

By:
Dan Abrams,
David Fisher

Narrated by:
Adam Verner,
Dan Abrams

Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
230

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
217

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
217

At the end of the summer of 1859, 22-year-old Peachy Quinn Harrison went on trial for murder in Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln, who had been involved in more than 3,000 cases - including more than 25 murder trials - during his two-decades-long career, was hired to defend him.

5 out of 5 stars

Great listen for lawyers and those interested in history

By
M.
on
07-15-18

A Bollywood Affair

By:
Sonali Dev

Narrated by:
Priya Ayyar

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
341

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
316

Story

4 out of 5 stars
313

Playboy filmmaker Samir "Sam" Rathod is Bollywood's favorite bad boy. He'll do anything for his big brother - even travel halfway across the globe to take care of the "wife" who just crawled out of his brother's past. Yet Mili isn't the simple village girl Sam expected. She's a whirlwind who sucks him into her roommate's elaborate elopement and soon has him drowning in her onyx eyes.

3 out of 5 stars

Just average

By
Robin
on
01-10-15

Publisher's Summary

In the closing days of 1799, the United States was still a young republic, its uncertain future contested by the two major political parties of the day: the well-moneyed Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the populist Republicans, led by Aaron Burr. The two finest lawyers in New York, Burr and Hamilton were bitter rivals both in and out of the courtroom, and as the next election approached - with Manhattan likely to be the swing district on which the presidency would hinge - their animosity reached a fever pitch. Until, that is, a beautiful young woman was found floating in Burr's newly constructed Manhattan Well. The accused killer, Levi Weeks, was the brother of an influential architect with ties to both men, and the crime quickly became the most sensational murder in the history of the young nation. With the entire city crying for Levi's head, the young man was in danger of being hastily condemned without a proper hearing. And so America's two greatest attorneys did the unthinkable - they teamed up.

Story

Fascinating Back Story of VP Burr and A. Hamilton

Politics have always been a dirty business . . . listening to Duel with the Devil was eye opening . . . America was a new nation, freshly out from under British rule . . . Vice President Aaron Burr, serving under President Thomas Jefferson challenged Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury and one of the founding fathers to a duel . . . because Hamilton has smeared his name in the race for Governor of New York . . . wild and crazy . . . no different than our political schemes of today . . . the story of the young Quaker woman found in Burr's newly constructed well, and the trial of her fiance, Levi Weeks was interesting, as the first sensational murder mystery of the young United States . . . Levi was guilty by the court of public opinion, even before being tried, but the unlikely team of Burr and Hamilton defending Levi Weeks was brilliant . . . highly recommended . . .

The Trial of the Century

The book opens with a vivid description of life in New York City with the water unfit to drink, problems with sewage and yellow fever is raging not only in New York City but all along the Atlantic coast.

The case is about Levi Weeks, a carpenter accused of strangling Elma Sands, a young Quaker women and dumping her body in the well. She went missing on December 31, 1799 and the body was found on January 2, 1800. The case was politically charged because of the Manhattan water supply problems and the debates of how to solve Manhattans water supply problem.

One of the items that helped propel the case into such notoriety was the famous defense team. The team was headed by Henry Brockholst Livingston who went on to be a Justice on the Supreme Court, Alexander Hamilton who was the leader of the Federalist and Aaron Burr who headed the populist Republicans. These three men were the most famous attorneys in Manhattan at the time. They were constantly opponents but this is a rare case that they joined together for the defense in a murder trial.

Collins reveals that the defense attempted to prove that Richard David Croucher known as “Mad Croucher” who was accused of rape was the actual killer of Sands. I will not give away the trial and ending, you need to read the book. I did learn that rape of women was not a crime in the 1790s but civil suit could occur as a violation of a man’s property i.e. husband or father.

The book is well written and meticulously researched. Collins used newspaper accounts, private diaries, court documents and Alexander Hamilton’s papers contained detailed records of the case. The book reads like a novel rather than a historical account and also gives a good picture of what life was like in Manhattan in December 1799 and early 1800.Mark Peckham narrated the book.